Monthly Archives: September 2023

Setting up an APC UPS, Synology and NUT

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I figured I’d document setting up an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with a Synology NAS that can also shutdown a Mac and two Raspberry Pis that drive certain aspects of my home network.

I am using NUT as clients on the Raspberry Pi and macOS computers that connects to my Synology NAS with an APC UPS connected.

Synology NAS Setup

For the Synology, follow Synology’s instructions to enable UPS support in DSM with the following exceptions:

  • Enable the Network UPS server
  • Put in the IP addresses of the computers you want to send shutdown messages to. While it says, “Permitted Synology NAS Devices”, you can use Network UPS Tools (NUT) clients in both macOS and Raspberry Pi OS to monitor
  • You do need to give those clientsand your NAS static IP addresses, which they have on my network

Raspberry Pi Setup

Setting up the client on Raspberry Pi is pretty straight forward. The link provided covers setting up as both server and client if you ever wanted to use a Raspberry Pi as a server.

For the purposes of my setup, I’m going to recommend letting the NAS be the server in this case.

Make sure you pay attention to upssched-cmd

macOS Setup

macOS is a bit trickier.

  • If you don’t have Mac Ports installed, install it
  • I followed these instructions to install NUT with the exception of
  • Making sure I used the MONITOR, NOTIFYMSG, NOTIFYFLAG details from the Raspberry Pi Setup
    • I used nano instead of emacs
  • I then follow the configuration files as described in the Raspberry Pi setup with the changes in the Mac instructions in this section

Steamdeck

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For the past year I’ve been playing with a Steamdeck.

I adored the Sony Playstation Vita, and when I saw the Steamdeck, I saw it as a worthy successor and I think I’m right.

The Steamdeck is fantastic! Now, there are definitely more powerful handhelds out there such as the Asus ROG Ally, but the Steamdeck was really the game changer handheld gamers were looking for.

What do I like about it?

  • It runs Linux – Nothing like seeing the power of Linux shine at a gaming level. Steam did a great job of creating SteamOS off Arch Linux
  • I can use it both as a gaming machine and as a Linux desktop, especially when in a dock hooked up to a keyboard, monitor and mouse
  • It runs Windows – Not that I run Windows often on the Steamdeck, but it’s definitely an option and I’m running it off an SD card
  • It runs Emulation Station – This was a huge factor in me buying the Steamdeck, I wanted to be able to carry a subset of my retro gaming archive on the Steamdeck.
  • How it feels in my hands and how visible the screen is
  • The controls are good
  • For how powerful the machine is, the battery life is not bad

What do I dislike about it?

  • The size of the Steamdeck is big and the case just adds more to it. That said, it’s kind of to be expected, people need a good size screen, good controls and a comfortable unit, so there are definitely tradeoffs.
  • It can run warm – Although I throttle using some plugins which saves battery life
  • The virtual keyboard takes up too much of the screen, and sometimes blocks fields you’re entering, say, a username or password in

There’s not much I don’t like, honestly and I can very much live with the things I dislike.

I’ve played some AAA titles such as Stray, and I didn’t see much lag, and the Steamdeck kept up with the game.

I do tend to play more modern retro-like games and games that don’t tax the system, however I would like to play more immersive modern games on it.

Now, how do I balance Steam versus my game consoles? Well, there are certain games that I’m going to want to play on multiple platforms – Tetris is one game that I want with me. I think this is also why I play more retro-like and independent games on the Steamdeck, because they don’t necessarily exist on the consoles, or if they do, I’m more likely to play games while travelling, or casually outside versus inside.

Some games are mean to be played on a big TV, some, I’d say handheld, and others work for both.

Steamdeck, Asus ROG Ally or other? Hmmm – The Steamdeck, when I ordered it, was definitely one of a kind and it definitely spurred a whole new industry.

I admit, I love the look of the Asus ROG Ally, but I’m a bit meh on it running Windows out of the box. I know there are sites that document how to setup Linux and get close to a Steamdeck experience on the Ally and that will improve over time. The Ally is definitely more powerful than the Steamdeck.

I think, ultimately, weigh the pros and cons of Windows versus Linux. SteamOS is pretty fantastic and I’ve not had any issues with it.